A/N: I got the idea for this fic from Limey's super freaking adorable golden-book inspired art on tumblr, huge thanks and hugs to her for all the beautiful stuff she does! I thought since I've written fics focusing on Vanellope's relationship with other members of her 'family' (Ralph and Calhoun) that I'd write one for Felix! Cute fluffy fluff with no substance, forgive me you sweet little things!
Closing time had come and Felix was just finishing cleaning up when Vanellope skipped up to him, cheerful as a puppy.
"Hiya Pie Boy, have you seen Stinkbrain anywhere?"
The handyman looked at her quizzically for a moment before understanding.
"Oh! You mean Ralph! He's at his Bad-Anon meeting tonight."
The little girl shoved her hands into her sweatshirt pocket, face pulling into a frown.
"Oh carrot sticks! I forgot!" she grumbled then quickly perked up, peering around behind Felix, "Is Sarge here?"
"She's going to be doing extra perimeter sweeps tonight, they do it once a week." He replied apologetically.
The racer looked crestfallen, "Oh. Ok…"
"But you can spend time with me if you want?"
She looked slightly unwilling, "You gonna make me eat vegetables or wash behind my ears or something?"
"Do you really think I'd make you do that?"
Considering it for a moment, Vanellope nodded sagely. "Yes. Yes you would."
"Well how about you pick something fun for us to do then?" The handyman offered.
The girl looked thoughtful for a moment, mulling the options over in her head. Vanellope was so bright and rambunctious the handyman was a bit worried he wouldn't be able to keep her out of trouble. It had always been a bit hard for her to take him seriously in the past, he wondered if it wasn't a height thing.
"A race!" she announced cheerfully.
"Do you mean in Sugar Rush or-"
Before he could finish she was already off and running down the path, quick as lightning.
"Slow down Vanellope!" he called, chasing after her.
The racer glanced over her shoulder, laughing before picking up speed. Her shoe hit an uneven spot on the sidewalk and for a moment she was airborne before crashing hard to the concrete.
"Oh my land!" Felix gasped, rushing over to the little girl and crouching next to her, "Are you hurt?"
Vanellope righted herself into a sitting position and he saw that one of her knees was scraped up pretty badly, the fabric of her tights had ripped and blue-ish swirls of code were leaking out of the wound. The little girl looked up at him, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to contain them.
"I'm f-f-fine." She hiccupped, trying her best not to cry.
"It's alright Vanilla bean, I can fix it." Felix pulled out his hammer and the little girl immediately shrank away from him.
"N-no way! It's gonna hurt!" she covered her knee defensively, pulling herself into a little ball.
"No it won't," he said gently, his voice soothing, "It'll fix you right up and it won't hurt a bit."
She looked at him uneasily, still not convinced.
He put one gloved hand over his heart. "I promise."
Reluctantly Vanellope let him have a look at her knee, swiping some tears from her face with the back of her hand. With a gentle tap of his gold hammer the wound disappeared completely, the fabric of her tights mended as well.
"Better?" he asked, standing and offering her a hand.
"Better." She admitted, taking his hand and getting to her feet.
Vanellope wandered off the path into the soft grass and flopped down to gaze up at the twinkling 8-bit stars. Felix joined her and they sat in comfortable silence for a little while before the racer again grew restless.
"Whatcha doing?" she asked, sitting up and indicating the flowers Felix was weaving together.
He placed a crown of flowers on her head and she adjusted them with a smile.
"There you go, Princess."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth Felix looked somewhat nervous.
"Oh gosh, I forgot! You don't like to be called that, do you?"
"Well…" the little girl began quietly, "I guess you can call me that sometimes, if you want to, and I won't mind."
She paused for a moment.
"But don't tell anyone, ok?"
Felix couldn't help but smile at her request.
"It's a deal." He agreed then stood, dusting off his pants. "How about we make some cookies for Ralph and his friends?"
Vanellope was up in a flash, raring to go.
"Yes! Let's go, let's go!" she cried happily.
They headed to Felix's house and he got them settled in the kitchen, going about getting the ingredients together and preheating the oven. After a few minutes he had the dry ingredients mixed and turned to check on Vanellope as she'd been a bit quiet.
He found her halfway through eating a cherry pie that had been on the counter; her cheeks stuffed full like a chipmunk. She swallowed the huge mouthful and grinned at him.
"Want some?" she offered, holding out the pan.
Felix couldn't help but laugh, "I'd tell you that you're going to ruin your dinner but I bet that dinner would be candy, wouldn't it?"
The little girl nodded happily, eating another forkful of pie. Felix shrugged and returned to making the cookies.
"At least you're eating fruit, I guess."
The handyman finished making the dough while Vanellope made short work of the rest of the pie. Felix busied himself with finding some cookie sheets, digging through a cupboard. While he was distracted Vanellope scampered over to the bowl, intent on eating the dough.
"If you eat that then there won't be enough for Ralph and all his friends." Felix said, head still in the cupboard.
The girl pouted a little and released the bowl.
"No fair! How'd you even know?"
Returning with some pans, he smiled at her and handed her the dough-covered spoon. She accepted it with a grin, eating the dough off of it while Felix dished out the cookies and put them in the oven. After placing the dishes in the sink, he went to the back bedroom and returned with a hairbrush. Pulling out a chair from the table he offered it to Vanellope.
"Want me to fix your hair?" he asked, it had almost fallen out of its ponytail from her fall and rolling about in the grass.
To his surprise she hopped up onto the chair without protest. He set her flower wreath along with all her barrettes and other adornments on the table and began gently brushing the knots out of her hair.
"Can you braid it?" she asked hopefully.
"Well, I can sure try." He promised, and set about dividing her hair into three sections.
As Felix began braiding, Vanellope piped up with another question.
"How come you're good at all this mom stuff?"
"Well I- wait, what?" he asked, thoroughly confused.
"What I mean is…" she paused, choosing her words carefully, "you're good at fixing things and making people feel happy and safe and junk. It's nice."
Her compliment left him speechless for a moment before he finally replied.
"That's just how I am, I guess." He admitted.
"Well," she announced as he finished putting the last barrette back in place, "I like it."
"I'm glad." He smiled warmly at her and placed the flower wreath back on her head. "Let's get those cookies out of the oven and we'll go meet Ralph."
They reached Bad-Anon just as the meeting was ending and Vanellope skipped about the huge Bad Guys, handing out cookies to everyone without a trace of fear. They left with Ralph and headed towards Tappers to meet Calhoun.
Vanellope took hold of one of Ralph's huge fingers in one hand and took Felix's hand in the other, chatting to the wrecker non-stop about her day as they walked. When they reached Tappers she rushed inside and quickly found Calhoun at the bar.
"Sarge!" she chirped, hopping up and down.
"Hey there little soldier, how was your day?"
"It was great!" the racer replied, "I hung out with Felix!"
"You didn't give my man too much trouble, did you?" The sergeant teased.
"No way Sarge!"
Felix climbed up onto the bar stool next to Tamora and gave her a quick kiss, Vanellope scrunched up her face for a moment at the display. She clambered up onto the stool next to Felix and Ralph took a seat on the other side of her, ordering them all a root beer.
Their drinks came and Vanellope took a big gulp of hers before tugging on Felix's shirt to get his attention. She had a bit of foam on the tip of her nose and he wiped it off, making her giggle.
"Yes?" he asked.
Without warning she hugged him fiercely tight, Felix smiled and gently hugged her back.
"Let's hang out again sometime, ok?" she asked, releasing him from her bone-crushing embrace.
"Sure thing, Princess."